GLOBAL LEARNING FOR PEACE

GERARD MCCANN

ST MARY’S UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, BELFAST

EDUCATING FOR PEACE

• ARTICLE 26 OF THE UN UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1948) STATES THAT: “EDUCATION SHALL BE DIRECTED TO THE FULL DEVELOPMENT OF THE HUMAN PERSONALITY AND TO THE STRENGTHENING OF RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS. IT SHALL PROMOTE UNDERSTANDING, TOLERANCE AND FRIENDSHIP AMONG ALL NATIONS, RACIAL AND RELIGIOUS GROUPS”.

REFINING THE DEFINITION

• UNESCO’S ‘LEARNING TO BE: THE WORLD OF EDUCATION TODAY AND TOMORROW’, REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION (1972) NOTES THAT: “IN EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES, ANYTHING DESIGNED TO HELP MAN [HUMANITY] LIVE AT PEACE WITH HIMSELF [HERSELF]... ALSO HELPS TOWARDS HARMONY AMONG THE PEOPLES. FOR HOSTILITY TOWARDS OTHERS, THE DESIRE TO DESTROY, ARE CLOSELY LINKED TO FRUSTRATION, FAILURE AND DIVERSE FEELINGS OF INFERIORITY... EDUCATIONAL ACTION MUST DISSIPATE SUCH SELF-DEFEATING ATTITUDES, BY CONTRIBUTING TO A FULL DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND HIS [HER] PERSONAL INTEGRITY. THEN... IT WILL BE ABLE TO DEVELOP IN ALL HUMAN BEINGS A PROFOUND ASPIRATION FOR PEACE”.

THE EDUCATIONAL IMPERATIVE OF THE UNITED NATIONS

• ARTICLE 29 OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD (1989) STATES THAT: “...THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILD SHALL BE DIRECTED TO... THE PREPARATION OF THE CHILD FOR RESPONSIBLE LIFE IN A FREE SOCIETY, IN THE SPIRIT OF UNDERSTANDING, PEACE, TOLERANCE, EQUALITY OF SEXES, AND FRIENDSHIP AMONG ALL PEOPLES”.

THE COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING

• THE UNICEF ‘PEACE EDUCATION’ (1999) DECLARATION STIPULATED THAT: “THE DEFINITION OF PEACE EDUCATION, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF PEACE EDUCATION PROGRAMMES IN UNICEF, MAKES A BASIC ASSUMPTION: THAT THE PEACEFUL RESOLUTION OF CONFLICT AND PREVENTION OF VIOLENCE, WHETHER INTERPERSONAL OR SOCIETAL, OVERT OR STRUCTURAL, IS A POSITIVE VALUE”.

AREA APPLICATIONS

• IN AREAS THAT HAVE UNDERGONE PERIODS OF CONFLICT, PEACE EDUCATION INITIATIVES TAKE SIMILAR FORMS. IN RWANDA IT IS TERMED ‘EDUCATION FOR PEACE’; IN SRI LANKA, ‘EDUCATION FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION’; IN SOUTH AFRICA, ‘PEACE AND RECONCILIATION’; IN LEBANON ‘GLOBAL EDUCATION’; IN MAURITIUS ‘EDUCATION FOR DEVELOPMENT’; AND IN BURUNDI ‘PEACE-BUILDING IN SCHOOLS’. IN NORTHERN IRELAND, ‘EDUCATION FOR DIVERSITY AND MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING’ (EMU/DMU), ‘SHARED’ AND ‘INTEGRATED’ EDUCATION ALL HAVE REMITS REGARDING PRACTICAL PEACE BUILDING AND RECONCILIATION.

ACADEMIC CONSIDERATIONS

• PEACE EDUCATION BY IAN HARRIS AND MARY LEE MORRISON, INTRODUCES THE TOPIC AND ITS THEMES SUCCINCTLY: “PEACE EDUCATION IS CURRENTLY CONSIDERED TO BE BOTH A PHILOSOPHY AND A PROCESS INVOLVING SKILLS, INCLUDING LISTENING, REFLECTION, PROBLEM-SOLVING, COOPERATION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION. THE PROCESS INVOLVES EMPOWERING PEOPLE WITH THE SKILLS, ATTITUDES AND KNOWLEDGE TO CREATE A SAFE WORLD AND BUILD A SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT”. (HARRIS AND MORRISON, 2003: 9)

DEVELOPING A CULTURE OF PEACE

• AS ROBIN BURNS AND ROBERT ARPESLAGH NOTED IN THREE DECADES OF PEACE EDUCATION AROUND THE WORLD: "PEACE EDUCATION CLEARLY EMERGED AS A CONCERN FOR "ONE WORLD, OR NONE", FROM ITS EARLY CONCERNS WITH PERSONAL PEACE TO AN OVERRIDING CONCERN WITH SOCIETAL PEACE ISSUES". (BURNS AND ARPESLAGH, 1996: 11) THEY GO ON TO NOTE THAT THE IMPLICATION OF THIS PROCESS IS THE SHIFT FROM STUDYING THE UNDERLYING TENETS OF A PEACEFUL SOCIETY TO ENGENDERING A CULTURE OF PEACE - WHICH IS INTERPRETED AS AN OBJECTIVE - IN THE UNDERSTANDING THAT: “... PEACE EDUCATION CAN SHAPE THE CONDITIONS FOR A PEACE CULTURE...” (IBID.: 20).

A GLOBAL LEARNING AGENDA

• THE UN’S HAGUE AGENDA FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (‘GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR PEACE EDUCATION’). FOR PRACTITIONERS OF PEACE EDUCATION THIS AGENDA WAS IN MANY WAYS SEEN AS RECOGNITION OF THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF INTERNATIONAL GOVERNANCE. IT EQUATED PEACE WITH INTERDEPENDENCE. CONSEQUENTLY, THE YEARS 2001-2010 WERE DESIGNATED THE ‘INTERNATIONAL DECADE OF PEACE AND NON-VIOLENCE FOR THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD’ BY THE UNITED NATIONS.

THE DEVED/PEACE EDUCATION INTERFACE

• DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION HAS BEEN EVOLVING PARALLEL TO PEACE EDUCATION. HISTORICALLY, ITS KEY CONCERNS HAVE BEEN SOCIAL JUSTICE AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.

• THE DEVED INFLUENCE HAS BECOME NOTABLE WITHIN EUROPE - IN PARTICULAR - IN RECENT YEARS. AGREEMENT ON THE IMPORTANCE OF DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION WITHIN THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) HAS BEEN GROWING SINCE 2001, WHEN THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE REQUESTED A GREATER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IT TERMED ‘GLOBAL INTERDEPENDENCE’.

• SINCE THEN THERE HAS BEEN DIALOGUE AROUND THE NATURE OF DEVED IN MOST EU MEMBER STATES AND A SERIES OF SUBSTANTIAL MOVES TO CREATE A FRAMEWORK WHICH COULD OPERATE AT A TRANSNATIONAL LEVEL. THIS DIALOGUE CULMINATED IN THE COMMISSION’S WORKING DOCUMENT OF DECEMBER 2012 UNDER THE TITLE ‘DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION AND AWARENESS RAISING (DEAR) IN EUROPE’.

LINKING MISSIONS

• THE DARE FORUM (BASED IN BRUSSELS) ENDORSED DEVED AS: “AN ACTIVE LEARNING PROCESS, FOUNDED ON VALUES OF SOLIDARITY, EQUALITY, INCLUSION AND CO-OPERATION. IT ENABLES PEOPLE TO MOVE FROM BASIC AWARENESS OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES AND SUSTAINABLE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, THROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF GLOBAL ISSUES TO PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT AND INFORMED ACTIONS”. THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF DEVED MATCHES COMFORTABLY THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PEACE EDUCATION, AND VISA VERSA.

GLOBAL LEARNING AS PROCESS

• COMPLEMENTING DEVELOPMENTS ON THE CONTINENT AND IN CONSOLIDATION OF AN AGREED METHODOLOGY, THE UNITED KINGDOM’S GLOBAL LEARNING PROGRAMME (GLP) HAS PROVIDED AN USEFUL ATTEMPT AT MARRYING BOTH SUBJECTS. IT ENCAPSULATES MUCH OF THE PEACE EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION PEDAGOGY, AND, SIGNIFICANTLY, HAS BEEN DESIGNED BY KEY PARTNERS: PRACTITIONERS FROM THE NGDOS, EDUCATIONALISTS IN THE FIELD AND THE DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (DFID).

• (THE PROGRAMME’S COORDINATING AGENCY IN THE NORTH OF IRELAND IS THE CENTRE FOR GLOBAL EDUCATION (

HTTP://WWW.CENTREFORGLOBALEDUCATION.COM /).

CONSOLIDATING THE PRINCIPLES

• PEACE BUILDING THROUGH EDUCATION IS CROSS CUTTING, ENCOMPASSING THE HIGHLY TOPICAL ISSUES OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION, RECONCILIATION, DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICE, SOCIAL ASSIMILATION AND OVERCOMING STEREOTYPING. THIS FRAMEWORK, DEVELOPMENT THROUGH PEACE EDUCATION, MAY BE A LONG WAY FROM THE EARLY VENTURES INTO PEACE BUILDING THROUGH EDUCATION IN THE 1970S, BUT A LOT OF GROUND HAS BEEN COVERED. MORE RECENT ADAPTATIONS HAVE OPENED THE WAY FOR NEW METHODOLOGIES AND SCOPE, AND WE ARE NOW AT THE POINT WHERE PEACE EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT EDUCATION ARE IN A CONVERSATION ON WHERE BOTH DISCIPLINES COULD WORK TOGETHER TO FACILITATE A CULTURE OF PEACE THROUGH INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.